Sons of Anarchy: Drea de Matteo Upped to Series Regular for Final Season

Drea de Matteo has been promoted to series regular, after six seasons of fairly regular appearances on the FX drama, E! News has confirmed.

After the (major spoiler alert!) shocking deaths of Clay (Ron Perlman) and Tara (Maggie Siff) last season, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that a few other characters might see a little more screen time when the series returns for its final season.

The actress, who won an Emmy for her work on The Sopranos in 1999, has recurred as drug addict and Jax's (Charlie Hunnam) estranged ex-wife Wendy since season one. Given the fact that Jax's second wife, Tara, was killed in the sixth season finale, it makes sense that Wendy would step up to play a bigger part in the life of her son and on the show.

Aside from her role on The Sopranos, de Matteo also had recurring roles on Desperate Housewives and Joey, and recently guest starred in an episode of The Mindy Project.

Fans can expect the death of Tara to have a major impact on Jax and the show when it returns. "I wanted to remove [Jax's] 'True North,' because I feel like there needs to be this major psychic and emotional shift that has to happen. What direction it will push him in we will see next season," creator Kurt Sutterpreviewed. "But what happens to a guy like that now that he's lost both of the people he loves the most, who were able to be his moral compass, with Opie and now Tara. It really is Jax completely untethered and on his own in the final season."

Sons of Anarchy will begin airing its seventh and final season sometime this fall on FX.